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Stories from UOW

2016: The Year in Review

It was a huge year for the University of Wollongong, with 2016 heralding remarkable discoveries, technological advancements, groundbreaking new buildings, and fascinating stories from our diverse student body. UOW photojournalist Paul Jones showcases his photographic year in review.

January

A light sphere on Mc Cauley’s Beach Thirroul. Making light orbs are one of the most fun light painting techniques used in photography. Paul Jones uses the process to capture light, ocean and sky.

UOW Learning Labs is a holiday program for gifted and talented students from year 1 to year 10. Taking part in the Little Learning Labs workshop building boats, are (from left) Sterlin Know, Mitchell Roberts, Isaac Boyle and Nickan Rahmannia.

February

The UOW pool transforms into a tropical paradise during the annual O-Week Festival.

And during the same month, the Duck Pond Lawn is transformed into a cinema for a screening of Jurassic World.

A behind the scenes photo during the making of the UOW’s new brand marketing campaign advertisement.

May

Creative writing helps women heal and find hope. A joint UOW project to produce a book that offers a glimpse into the path walked by the women who knock on the door of Lou’s Place ­– a refuge in the heart of Kings Cross in inner Sydney – as they seek shelter from violence, drug addiction, mental illness and homelessness, and seek to rebuild their lives.

In a remarkable new discovery, an international team of researchers led by Dr Gert van den Bergh, from UOW’s Centre for Archaeological Science, uncovered the fossilised remains of ancient hominins in Indonesia, which appear to be the ancestors of Homo floresiensis, the tiny species of human, affectionately dubbed the ‘Hobbit’, that stood at just one metre tall.

June

UOW joins a long list of Australian universities that are making their campuses smoke-free zones in a move designed to improve the health and wellbeing of all campus users.

The emerging field of soft robotics is putting better outcomes for amputees within reach. Pictured is ACES Research Fellow in soft robotics Dr Rahim Mutlu with Professor Gursel Alici and a bionic hand gripper they’ve developed.

July

Photos from a field trip to the outback mountain range of the Finders Ranges with a group of local and international geoscientists, which included academics and students from UOW and the University of Colorado.

Following up a story from June 2016. The next step for the UOW robotic research team is to employ smart materials to tailor soft actuators that will be embedded within the hand as a muscular system. Len Snowdon is pictured with Professor Gursel Alici with Rahim Mutlu at the ACES lab at UOW. Len said he is looking forward to the day when he has one arm to help him carry out his tasks.

Donald Trump, businessman, television personality and now the President-elect of the United States. Who would have guessed? Dr Anthony Ashbolt, from UOW’s School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, did not foresee the result.